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Tag Archives: London

It was a tiny little camera. It took tiny pictures. That you could stick on things, if you got the sticky film. (The pictures were as small as post stamps.)

For a whole year I looked for the version of it that was also digital.* Never found it. I shot a few films with it. They were kind of expensive.

By the time I could afford more film, they stopped making it. It stayed in the closet, as new. The other day I turned it on and it even made the sound that its flash was warming up.(I had forgotten to take out the batteries.)

I’ve been staying in Hackney a lot the last couple of years. At first I was ambivalent. It was not love at first sight. But then I found all its cool little places. And I got hooked. So buy me an “I ♥ Hackney” t-shirt and mark me down as enthusiastic. And if you’re nice to me I’ll tell you where they make the best veggie moussaka in the borough–Cypiot-style of course.

There is a magical place in London where you can see bands play for the price of an album, a t-shirt and showing up on time (or begging the bouncer to let you in. Good luck with that.) The gigs there are so small you may even get to talk to the band after.

That is where I saw the band Real Estate for the second time.

When I first saw them in Jericho Tavern in Oxford almost two years ago it was their first time in the UK and they were very young, bright-eyed and polite, and they sounded great.

They sounded even better the second time. (They were still very young and very nice.)

Of course I’m a big fan of surf, rock music and the beach, so I might be biased.

I sometimes put their song Beach Comber on repeat and listen to it as I write.